The Obama administration's proposed 2011 budget includes some $4.6 billion that would be used to continue funding 20,000 Border Patrol agents and to complete the Arizona portion of a U.S.-Mexico border fence under construction.

The Department of Homeland Security has plans to construct a 700-mile border fence which will include high-tech surveillance equipment, road barriers and checkpoints. The Obama administration is also recruiting more agents for "Border Enforcement Security Task Forces" charged with "sharing information" and "coordinating law enforcement operations" between federal, state, and local government agencies.

The militarization of the border is part of the ongoing anti-immigrant campaign of the capitalist government. By increasing its repression against immigrants and working to poison public opinion with anti-immigrant racism, the government aims to force immigrants deeper into the underground economy where they are mercilessly exploited.

This anti-immigrant hysteria is also being used to justify the build up of the government's repressive apparatus and its attacks against the rights of everyone.